A few of you here may be aware of NPSTN - the "Novelty" public switched telephone network. It is, in simple form, a collection of both actual mid-century phone switching equipment and Asterisk servers simulating such equipment -- a fully functional phone network intended for collectors, enthusiasts, and other types of phone phreaks.
Access is generally done using SIP connections, or similar, be it a client on a computer / smartphone or an Analog Telephone Adaptor connected to the network and a classic "landline" phone.
I've gone the route of getting a PBX, to connect all my phones, and rigging up routing from an ATA to one of my phones in particular for incoming calls -- all my phones can access the network through the PBX, of course, but that's not the major thing -- what I have spent the past month on is fine tuning an Asterisk server of my own and making my own switch on the network.
Today, I consder myself as having succeeded in that goal -- while my switch has been functonal for nearly a month now -- I have numbers on it you can call, listen to recordings on or call me directly, It's been a "personal" thing, and not something others were actively a part of.
That changed today when had not one but two people choose to be hosted on my server, meaning they have phone numbers I'm providing on NPSTN. Sure, they have other numbers but apparently people **love** the way my switch sounds, and want to be a part of it directly.
That is amazing to me, to get such feedback. It's much like how this BBS has been the past year, so, I'll take both of these as a "win" for me -- the BBS is healthy, albeit a little neglected by me, and my phone switch service is active. Basically, I run my own phone company, and that's kind of wild.
I have the 383-1XXX and 383-9XXX number groups on NPSTN, so, if you want a line on there (understanding it's only designed for intra-network calls) I can easily set you up.
https://npstn.us -- look for my numbers under "EV3" in the directory. You CAN dial into these from the normal phone network -- simply use one of the DISA's lsted at the top of the directory. Call in, get the second dial tone, and then dial a number on there to enjoy some vintage phone sounds. That's how I got started and, well, one email lead to all this for the past month.
By the way, yes, once i get a bit more equipment I do intent to possibly use this as a route to the BBS being on dialup. At least, one option. Of course, we'll see what happens over the next few months.
Any questons feel free to ask, or, if you want to be bold, call into NPSTN then call me directly at 383-1677.
Wolf River Telephone is operational. Hell yeah!
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www.xadara.com